No Radical Hangover: Black Power, New Left, and Progressive Politics in the Midwest, 1967-1989 By Austin McCoy A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (History) in the University of Michigan 2016 Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Matthew J. Countryman, Co-Chair Associate Professor Matthew D. Lassiter, Co-Chair Professor Howard Brick Associate Professor Stephen Ward Dedicated to Mom, Dad, Brandenn, Jeff, and K.C., all of the workers who have had their jobs stolen, and to all of the activists searching for answers. ii Acknowledgements Since I have taken the scenic route to this point, I have many thanks to give to family, friends, and various colleagues, collaborators, and communities that I have visited along the way. First, I would like to thank my dissertation committee—Howard Brick, Stephen Ward, Matt Lassiter, and Matthew Countryman. Your guidance and support enhanced this my dissertation. Your critical comments serve a cornerstone for this project as I proceed to revise it into a book manuscript. Howard, your classes and our conversations have expanded my thinking about the history of the left and political economy. Stephen, I appreciate your support for my scholarship and the fact that you always encouraged me to strike a balance between my academic and political work. Matt, I have learned much from you intellectually and professionally over the last seven years. I especially valued the fact that you gave me space and freedom to develop an ambitious project and to pursue my work outside of the classroom. I look forward to your continued mentorship. Matthew, I cannot say enough about our relationship. You taught me that one of the greatest attributes in this pursuit is patience. Patience is also linked to perspective as an extremely eager first-year student. Only after listening to your subtle and explicit advice, I was able to start developing my identity as a scholar and an activist. You have set a wonderful model for public scholarship and mentorship. You gave me advice that I will continue to follow as I advance in the profession. I think, most of all, I will always appreciate our conversations, especially your stories about your experiences I hope to be as great of a mentor to students as you have been to me. iii Of course, I could not have completed the research for the project if it were not for all of the kind librarians, archivists, and interviewees. I loved spending time at the Joseph A. Labadie and Bentley Historical Collections at the University of Michigan. Thanks to all of the folks working at Western Reserve Historical Society, the Walter P. Reuther Library, the Chicago History Museum, University of Illinois, Chicago Special Collections, and the Wisconsin Historical Society. Also, special thanks to the folks at the Harold Washington Library. I was not aware that I was starting my dissertation project there during my first year of studies. And, thanks to the workers at the Burton Historical Collection. I take pride in being the first to look at Coleman Young’s papers. I also appreciate Heather Booth, Ira Arlook, James K. Miller (and Isaac), Paul Ryder, Tom Hayden, Dan Luria, and Sandy Buchannan for taking the time to talk. I look forward to future conversations. I would be remiss not to credit all of my other academic and professional mentors from The Ohio State University, Kent State University, the University of Akron, and elsewhere— Christopher Phelps, Scopas Poggo, J.F. Buckley, Barbara McGovern, Susan Delagrange, Elise Riggle, Donna Hight, William E. Nelson, Jr., James N. Upton, Hasan K. Jeffries, Timothy Scarnecchia, Elizabeth Smith-Pryor, Zachery Williams, Elizabeth Hinton, Julilly Kohler- Hausmann, Lester Spence, Nathan Connolly, and Marisa Chappell. You all influenced me as a scholar, activist, and professional heavily. I have carried a piece of you all in my heart and mind as I have advanced. To one of my best friends, Darrick Jackson: It was our shared dream that we both attend graduate school and earn our PhDs, especially as one of the few black men attending OSU- iv Mansfield. Our friendship not only put me on this path, but it showed me how to think big and critically. You pushed me to speak out and get involved. Aaron Beveridge: Our time working together at the Writing Center at OSU-M was formative in my thinking. You introduced me to new ideas and expanded my thinking about language and politics. Our conversations and collaborations always kept my mind sharp. And when I feel like I’m getting stagnant, I remember what we used to say about organizing—move and reproduce. I have been extremely fortunate enough to encounter and get to know so many people while living and working in Ann Arbor over the last seven years. Thank you to everyone at the University of Michigan for your support. Thanks to the History Department staff for keeping me on point—Kathleen King, Terre Fisher, Diana Denney, Lorna Alstetter, Dawn Kappalla, and Gregory Parker. I also want to thank my other faculty mentors. Thank you Elizabeth James, Martha Jones, and Heather Thompson for your guidance around helping me balance my scholarly and political work. I have appreciated all of my 2009 cohort friends in History and American Culture (my apologies if I miss anyone)—Katie Rosenblatt, David Green, Chelsea Del Rio, Lissy Reisman, Sarah Harper Nobles, Ananda Burra, Ángela Perez-Villa, Liz Harmon, Jennifer Garcia Peacock, Wendy Sung, Marie Stango, Nicole Greer Golda, Jessica Stephens, Pouya Alimagham, and Michelle Cassidy. Of course, I have to extend a special shout out to Marvin Chochotte and Christopher Tounsel since the three of us black men entered into UM History together. I have accumulated so many more friends, some in prior and subsequent cohorts and departments, some not. I cannot remember everyone, but I want to make sure that I thank the following for all of your friendships and insight: Pascal Massinon, Toni Walker, Mary Alice v Truitt, Heidi Bennett, Liz Brennen, Ronit Stahl, Dahlia Petrus, Mikell Hyman, Paul Hebert, Patrick Parker, Charnan Williams, Kate Silbert, Jacqueline Antonovich, Diana Carolina, Becky Hill, Steve Arionus, Josh Mound, Katie Lennard, Jenny Kwak, Jesse Carr, Ashley Rockenbach, Rabia Belt, Anna MacCourt, Brady G’Sell, Aaron Seaman, Tapsi Mathur, Aston Gonzalez, Stephanie Fajardo, Caitlin Townsend, Michelle Johns, Beth Fowler, Anna Lemler, Audrey Pallmeyer, Arielle Goodman, Phoebe Rusch, Ariel Objibway-Gifford Brittany Magueri, Donia Jarrar, Lamia Moghnie, Anna Mester, Rachel Miller, Jacqueline Larios, Farah Erzouki, Ashley Lemke, Rachel Johnson, Sian Olson Dowis, Luciana Aenășoaie, Cookie Woolner, Melissa Johnson, Noah Blan, Katie Wroblewski, Nora Krinitsky, Leslie Hempson, Amy Pistone, Dana Kornberg, and Hillina Seife. I will always appreciate Minayo Nasiali for taking the time during your last year to give advice to a first year student you barely knew. Kyera Singleton and CaVar Reid deserve special shout outs as well: Both of you never failed to keep me encourage. CaVar, I appreciate all of the times we commiserated over chicken wings. You kept your head down and got the job done. And, with Kyera, I found someone who I could talk hip hop with, which is extremely important for my well-being. I have met some awesome new(er) students in the last couple of years as well. I’ve appreciated getting to know Charity Hoffman, Kimberly Daley, Kris Klein Hernandez, Severina Scott, Kat Whiteley, David Hutchinson, Elena Rosario, Nicole Navarro, Salem Elzway, Stacey Bishop, Sunhay You, Janee Moses, and Peggy Lee (I sense some future collaborations ahead.). To ToniAnn Trevino, Vivian Truong, and Meryem Kamil: You three were a bright spot for me in my last year. You all never failed to keep me entertained. Most importantly, though, you all keep it real. I always enjoy my conversations about scholarship and popular culture with vi Molly Brookfield and Katie Wataha. I look forward to reading your work in the future. There are some folks who left, but was thankful to meet and get to know them like Antonio Ramirez and Eric Shih. You both left too soon! We could have used your organizing experience. Eric: I hope we can collaborate properly one day. I want to thank some of the folks who have become some of my best friends here in Ann Arbor. Sophie, because there’s only one, I am really thankful for the time we spent together. You introduced me to a lot of new things. Some of those things were hard, but good, like distance running and yoga, and others were extremely adventurous, like our trip to Mexico. Thank you for letting me in, and especially, all of your support. Garrett: It had been a long time since I met someone who I was in sync with politically, professionally, and socially. I not only enjoyed our conversations about scholarship and politics, but I took refuge in the not-so-serious moments such as watching and playing basketball, watching football, and searching for the best carrot cake in town. It’s hard to imagine myself getting involved in campus activist work if you did not ask me to collaborate on that Michigan Daily Op-Ed. Similar to my relationships with Darrick and Aaron, our friendship took me to unexpected places. I look forward to future conversations and collaborations. I need to thank all of my activist community. You all truly made Ann Arbor my home. Thank you to everyone whom I collaborated with in the United Coalition for Racial Justice. I’ve named a few of you already. Tatiana Cruz: You were there at the beginning and you were a crucial presence at the event. Your contributions and passion for the event were immeasurable.